According to the exporter, alternative markets will not be considered and until the situation is resolved, the remaining fruit will be sold in the local market, which will be reflected in the price.

"We are facing a very bad situation, which changes for the worse every day. The business has lost a considerable amount of money. Exactly how much, I can not tell you, because at this point we are counting the loss. Due to the seasonal change, sales in Russia and Ukraine were already halved. Compared to last year, the citrus and apple crops are relatively smaller, due to which we had interruptions in supply from time to time. Now we are turning all our resources to the local market, which is likely to affect prices and lead to lower fruit prices," said Vakhtang Bezhitashvili.

To be informed, within the last 7 months - from August 1, 2021 through February 20, 2022, 5,308 tons of apples were exported from Georgia. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, the value of exported fruits amounted to $ 3.4 million.

During this period, apples were almost completely exported to the Russian Federation, part of the exported fruit went to Ukraine, and part - to Armenia.